To lead the fight to cure and treat ALS through global, cutting-edge research, and to empower people with Lou Gehrig’s Disease and their families to live fuller lives by providing them with compassionate care and support.

Stars In Your Halo Fund - Remembering Paula Butler

Goal:

$10,000.00

Achieved:

$920.00

Stars in your halo...

Stars in your halo...In December, I visited my mom. My husband Craig was out of town so I was having dinner with my folks, Jagger and Daisy. My dad had just come home from his afternoon of playing gin with the boys.

In an unusually expressive moment, he approached my mother's bedside. He held her hand in his and became a bit teary. 'Boy, Paula, you are a gem. You've put up with me all these years.' He's stroking her hand now. 'I don't know how you've done it.' Even more tears. He leaned in to kiss her. I was sitting on the couch across the room, baby attached to my body, watching and tearing up myself. With her one available functioning arm, my mom reached for her talk-board and started typing furiously.

A few minutes later, she pushed the speak button on her board. The mechanical voice said, 'And you have a few stars in your halo too for standing by me, Rusty Butler.' Ok, yea. The tears were springing forth at this point as Dad reached for her left hand and squeezed it. I said a silent prayer of thanks for letting me be there to witness this beauty.

These are the ways my mother inspired me in life, the lessons I learned from her before this disease stole her life:

1. Always stand by your partner. If you have an issue with them, take it up with them directly. But treat them with respect and admiration.

2. Absolutely everyone deserves respect and attention. From the new hospice pastor, who might just decide to sing you a bible tune, to the closest friend you have visiting from afar - treat them with equal love and grace.

3. You can help anyone if you try. You may not always understand them, but that is of little importance in the end. If you look hard enough, you will find a way to better their lives. Even the simplest things matter.

4. There is no point in speaking or even thinking, ill of absolutely anyone. Life is too short for that negative nonsense. Suck it up and be kind. Even if you don't want to, chances are, you're the one with the problem. Not them.

5. Always, always, always - be of love & grace. Whether you are dealing with an animal, a plant or a person (large or small), life is energy & energy should be revered and appreciated - not controlled, or changed, or morphed into something else but rather, loved and appreciated for exactly the way it is.

6. Speak your mind. Even if you have no words. A lot can be said just through the eyes. And silence can be equally effective as volume behind empty words.

The universe granted me another amazing gift this year. Something I dared not even hope for. Before her death, I was able to share moments with my mother and my daughter in the same room, under the same sun. I will always cherish those memories.

Please donate to help end ALS in memory of my mother:

Paula Katherine Butler 11/13/43 - 2/24/12

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